If you can’t attend but want to support the con, you have until May 31 - but bear in mind that if you would like to include one of your backlist vids in Vidder’s Choice, you will need to have registered before the Vidder’s Choice deadline.

The Vidder’s Choice deadline and the deadline for Premieres are both on May 14.

Attending and Supporting members of the con can submit any one back catalogue vid to Vidder’s Choice. Anyone at all can submit a brand-new, never-before-seen vid to the Premieres show. You can upload your vid for either show on the site now:

The deadline for both Premieres (brand-new, never-before-seen vids from any interested vidders, in any genre, style or fandom) and Vidder’s Choice (back-catalogue vids by Attending and Supporting members of VidUKon 2018) is May 14.

If you have your vid for either show ready to go, here’s what you need to do with it!

(I know this post is a little long but I promise it’s pretty easy. Do give us a shout if you get stuck though! We’d much rather take the time to give someone a little advice than miss out on showing great vids!)

Just click Create Account on the homepage, fill in the relevant details and log in. (At this stage, if you want to submit to Vidder’s Choice and you haven’t yet registered for Attending or Supporting Membership, you’ll want to head over to Registration in the menu at the left of the page and do that first.)

2) Once you have an account, go to Upload in the menu on the left. Select the show you’d like to upload a vid to. (You’ll need to click Next at the bottom right of the page to get through each stage.)

On the Video Details page, fill in the title of your vid, a description/summary, the source(s) you made it from (ie, the TV show/movie/comic/whatever), and its duration. On the next screen, fill in the music title and artist. Then, on the next screen, your name (as you’d like to be credited) and email address (as well as your website and/or blog if you’d like.) Tick the box for any applicable warnings, and fill in additional info for anything under Other.

3) Next you’ll see a page which asks you to choose how to upload - browser, FTP, or link to files. My personal recommendation is FTP. It takes a few minutes to set up but over the years I’ve found it the best and most straightforward, plus it’s the easiest way to see when your file has successfully made it over to us.

If you’d like to try that option, click Upload via FTP, then download and install Filezilla:

It doesn’t take long! Once it’s installed, open it. You’ll see some boxes to fill in across the top. In Host put “ftp.vidukon.co.uk”, and in Username put “anonymous”, then click QuickConnect. Some stuff will scroll by. Don’t worry about any error messages you see.

Now you’re ready to send over your vid. If you’re uploading for Vidder’s Choice, you can upload as mov, avi, mp4, m2v, mpg or divx. For Premieres it’s a little more complicated, see further down this post for instructions!

When you have the vid you want to upload in the right format, make sure the filename is identical to the filename supplied on the Upload via FTP page - it’ll look something like “vidderschoice_test_test”. This helps us organise things behind the scenes. In the Local Site menu on the left of Filezilla, find your vid and double-click it, or right click and select Upload.

You’ll see the upload’s progress bar at the bottom of the screen. Once the file has moved, it’ll show up under Successful Transfers in the tab at the bottom of the page.

4) Once you see that, check the box on the Upload via FTP page that says “I confirm that I have FTPed my video file(s) with the name [filename]”. You can then move on and choose whether you’d like your vid to be in the virtual con - if you do, fill in your embed code from YouTube/Vimeo/wherever and a link to the vid (on YouTube or AO3 or Tumblr or Dreamwidth or whatever). If your vid is passworded, add that in.

5) Then just click through and hit Save if you’re happy with everything! The website should thank you for submitting your vid.

If you’re not sure whether your vid arrived safely, please check with us, via Twitter or email. We’d hate to miss out on your vid because it didn’t get uploaded correctly and nobody knew about it!

If you get stuck on any of this, please let us know, we want your vid! But here’s the easiest way to do it. (Bear in mind that I’m on Windows and don’t know how this works on Mac!)

1) Download a great little program called Llamaenc2 HERE. (With thanks to AbsoluteDestiny for creating it!). Install it, open it.

2) Click on Choose Vid, find the vid you want to convert. Choose the top option in each dropdown in Settings.

3) Take a look at the preview on the right to see if it looks ok and not squashed or anything. (You can scroll using the blue slider to look at different shots.) IF it looks good, you’re in luck! You probably don’t need to change anything. Choose a file name and output directory, then click Convert.

Once the conversion is finished, watch the resulting vid through to check it looks ok. (The video and audio will be separate files. If you struggle to find a way to open them concurrently, I know Windows Media Player Classic will play them together automatically if they’re in the same folder.) If it looks good, go ahead and upload both video and audio according to the instructions above!

If any of the above causes problems, for example if the vid looks squashed (the most likely issue), tinker with the Aspect Ratio setting and the Crop and Resize radio buttons until it doesn’t look squashed, then try converting. And again, give us a shout if you get stuck or you're not sure!

Vids can be in any genre, style or fandom. You don't have to be attending or supporting VidUKon to submit a premiere. All you have to do is make a vid, submit it on the VidUKon site before May 14, and keep it under wraps until the Premieres show on June 16 - after that you can post it online as normal.

(The site will open for submissions in early May, so don't worry if you can't upload yet.)

Your vid will be shown on the big screen for all attendees of VidUKon, and if you wish it can be made available via streaming for supporting members in the virtual convention too.

If you’re planning to attend but haven’t purchased your membership yet, prices rise from £39.99 to £49.99 on April 13 - that is, this Friday! Get your ticket before Friday if you want to pay the lower price.

If you haven’t yet booked your hotel room, now’s the time to do it. Rooms at the special con rate are available until April 15 - this Sunday. Book your rooms before then if you want the con rate. (Actual payment is usually at the con itself.)

If you’re working on a premiere vid, you have until May 14. That’s also the deadline for uploading your Vidder’s Choice vid, so if you’re a vidder attending or supporting the con, have a think about which of your back-catalogue vids you’d like to showcase.

Also, some exciting news - this year selected vidshows will feature a post-show discussion session so that we can reflect on what we’ve just watched and dig a little deeper into the themes and questions raised!

Concom, VJs, panellists and vidders are all working away behind the scenes to create this year’s convention - the tenth anniversary of VidUKon’s first year! A full schedule will be released a little closer to the time, but if you’re trying to decide whether to attend, here’s a partial list of what’s coming up:

- Multifandom vidshows (curated playlists of fanvids that are shown on the big screen) on a variety of themes, including dance vids, the history of femslash, a look back at Vividcon auction vids, highlights from CreaSpace, diversity in vidding, a 2008 fandoms anniversary retrospective, the BBC, Festivids, and VidUKon’s first ever singalong vidshow!

- Vidder’s Choice, an opportunity for vidders who are attending or supporting the convention to show off their back-catalogue vids in any genre or style

- Panels and talks, including the annual Year in Vidding discussion, a chance to learn about new academic research in vids and vidding, vids past and future, and more!

- The return of last year’s highly successful group vidding workshop! Join a team to vid a section of a song in a single morning, stitch together the sections from all the teams, admire the glorious Frankenvid!

- Tons of opportunities for socialising and squee, including a quiz, a room party, and the con dinner on Saturday night

All of this takes place on 15-17 June 2018 at VidUKon’s regular home, the Future Inn Hotel, Cardiff Bay. There’s a block of rooms allocated for VidUKon at a special rate, the con space and hotel rooms are wheelchair accessible, and there are lots of food options and a supermarket within walking distance.

With the con exactly three months away, now seems like a good time to share a roundup of some important dates and other information.

Attending and Supporting Memberships:

Attending memberships are still on sale. For the low, low price of £39.99, you can attend this year’s fabulous convention in glamorous Cardiff! Get your tickets soon though, as the price rises to £49.99 on April 13. After that, you have a month remaining to buy tickets before bookings end on May 13. (Bear in mind while booking that tickets for the Saturday night dinner are £18.99, and you may wish to pay for this at the same time!)

If you’re attending the convention, bear in mind that programming begins on Friday afternoon - you’re welcome to arrive at any time that works for you, but if you have the chance to arrive earlier there will be some slightly more casual programming from around lunchtime on the Friday.

Supporting memberships are on sale until May 31. A supporting membership of the convention gets you real-time streaming access to the virtual con, a downloadable copy of the Premieres DVD, the opportunity to showcase any one of your backlist vids in the Vidder’s Choice show, and the warm fuzzy feeling of supporting the con! All of this will set you back £15.99.

Hotel rooms are available at the con rate until 15 April. You can have up to four people in a room, although once you have more than two people, each additional person adds a small extra amount to the overall price. Take a look at this post for more information or to find a roommate: https://vidukon-cardiff.dreamwidth.org/32993.html

Scholarship:

The VidUKon scholarship is still open for nominations (very much including self-nominations) of European fans who are Non-UK-resident, have not been to the con in the past, and would like to attend.

All nominations (European, UK and international) will close on Sunday April 1 and the scholarship will be awarded by April 9 to allow the recipient sufficient time to make travel arrangements. If there has been no interest from international fans by the March 19 the scholarship will be made available to UK residents. Take a look here for more information: http://www.vidukon.co.uk/convention/scholarship

Premieres and Vidder’s Choice:

The deadline for submitting vids to both Premieres and Vidder’s Choice is the end of May 14, which is a Monday. You will be able to upload your vids for both shows on the VidUKon site from the beginning of May - we’ll let you know when!

All vidders, regardless of attendance/support of the con, are invited to submit premieres. A premiere is a vid that hasn't been shown in any previous convention or event and has not been released online prior the con. It will be shown for the first time ever at the Premieres show on Saturday night at the con.

The Vidder’s Choice show is open to anyone with an attending or supporting membership for this year. We invite you to submit absolutely any vid from your back catalogue, as long as it has been posted online or shown at a con previously.

TL;DR:

March 19 - scholarship opens to UK residents if no international fans have come forward

The deadline for Panel submissions has been extended to April 30th. Right now we only have shows, but no panel submissions!

If you have an awesome, interesting, weird, wonderful or even zany, idea for a panel, please please please submit it! If you're unsure about going it alone, or just want some reassurance that other people are totally into your idea, comment here and talk it out!

Vidshow and panel submissions for VidUKon 2018 are open until the end of March 5.

If you have a show, panel or other programme item that you'd like to volunteer to make/present, head on over to the site, log in/create an account and let us know. You don't need to be attending the con to create an account or to submit a potential programme item.

Rooms in the Future Inn Cardiff Bay areavailable for booking at a special VidUKon rate for the weekend of the con. Here are the current room rates:

Friday 15th - £94.00 single/£104.00 twin or double

Saturday 16th June - £119.00 single/£129.00 twin or double

Sunday 17th June - £74.00 single/£84.00 twin or double

There are currently 10 rooms being held for the con; these rooms are only being held until 15 April. Rates after that may go up sharply, particularly if there's an event on in Cardiff, so don't delay.

If you want to have more than 2 people in a room, make sure to check the rate when you're booking as this will have an effect on the price.

Make sure to mention VidUKon when you book to secure the special con rate. We strongly recommend speaking to the Reservations department to arrange your room, not Reception, as they will be more aware of the con rate. We also recommend making your booking during the week if possible, as you're more likely to reach the necessary staff members - but get in touch if you have any problems.

Roommates:

If you're looking for someone to share a room with for the con, comment on this post (on the Dreamwidth or LJ version) or take a look at who has already commented to see who else is looking.

The VidUKon auction 2018 is now open for bids! Some wonderful volunteers are offering their vidding services - bid for fandoms including Strange Empire, Farscape, One Day at a Time, Star Trek, American Gods, Doctor Who, The Good Place and loads more for the chance to have your dream vid made (and help the con at the same time!)

The auction will remain open until 2000 GMT on January 27, 2018.

If you’d like to make a bid, or just explore the full list of fandoms, visit the auction page here: